


Ghost Stories

by Courtneyshortney82



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alexandria Safe-Zone (Walking Dead), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Beth Greene Lives, Established Relationship, F/M, Ghost Stories, POV Daryl Dixon, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:47:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27298906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Courtneyshortney82/pseuds/Courtneyshortney82
Summary: Daryl and Beth remember those that they lost along the way and wonder if they are still around.
Relationships: Daryl Dixon/Beth Greene
Comments: 8
Kudos: 34
Collections: Bethyl Holidays Fest





	Ghost Stories

**Author's Note:**

> This is my submission for the Bethyl Holiday Fic Fest Halloween prompt: Ghosts. This is taking place during the episode "Scars" there was the one scene where all the kids were gathered around and it looked like they were having a Halloween party. This is what I think would've been going on if Beth had made it back and she and Daryl were avoiding the crowd. Rick is of course assumed to be dead.  
> Just a side note, if anyone is also reading In My Blood, don't worry the new chapter is so close to being finished and posted. This was just the little distraction I needed when I was hitting mental blocks.

**Ghost Stories**

He can't remember who decided that it was Halloween. Most likely Aaron or Rosita. They were always trying to bring some sort of the past into the world they now lived in.

Asskicker was loving it. She'd been telling Daryl and Beth about the costume Michonne was helping her make. He'd never had a chance to actually enjoy Halloween as a child and now it was just another day. No one needed to dress up as a monster; the real monsters were just outside the gates of Alexandria.

Tonight was the night they’d decided to celebrate. Everyone gathered together as soon as the sun went down. He still thought it was ridiculous to celebrate something like this, but it was the excitement on Judith’s face and how much fun the other kids were having that softened him up. He wasn’t going to sit around and play games with them around the bonfire they’d built in the middle of town, though. And he knew Beth wouldn’t either.

The old Beth would. The Beth before Grady. But this Beth was a little more like him. The world had lost some of the shine that she’d always seen, but that didn’t change how he felt about her. Maybe them being more alike now was something that had brought them closer. 

Ever since she’d shown up at the gates of Hilltop, a little battle weary and sporting a few more scars, they’d been inseparable. It just fell into place, the two of them coming back to Alexandria, moving into one of the townhouses… no one questioned it. They all knew how hard he’d fought to get Beth back and how hard he’d taken her death — or what they’d all  _ thought _ was her death.

She didn’t like to talk about what happened after they left her in the trunk of that car, and he didn’t push. One day, she would tell him. She always did. It just needed to be on her own time. When she was ready.

“She already headed over.” The voice from above him startled him out of his thoughts. Gabriel. He was standing on the platform looking out at the neighborhood beyond the front gates. “Left about ten minutes ago. You two plannin’ to be out there all night, or should I keep an eye out for you?”

“Keep an eye out. I’m too old ta be sleepin’ on a hard floor,” Daryl called out as he waited for whoever was at the gate to finish opening it. He should probably know her name by now. She’d come in with the group of Saviors. One of the few he didn’t mind having around. He thought she’d been one of Negan’s wives or whatever the fuck they were, but around the time they moved in, his world had turned upside-down because a blonde force of nature came back into his world.

He gave the redhead a nod and took his crossbow off his back. This area usually stayed pretty clear, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He needed the familiar weight, and he didn’t ever want to get comfortable enough to not have it ready the moment something or some _ one  _ stepped in front of him.

Nothing crossed his path as he walked the two blocks to the burnt out house. It stood there like the skeletal remains of what the world used to be. They’d found this place a few months ago when Beth needed to get out from behind the walls of Alexandria. She really had come back more like him, especially in the sense that she hated to be behind walls for long periods of time. She needed to have freedom and the open air of the world around her. If she stayed inside too long, the nightmares would start again and then the headaches would get worse.

The night before they came across the house had been a particularly bad night. Beth had woken up screaming and nothing he did could calm her down. He eventually learned to just be there for her. There for when she needed him, like she always did. He’d suggested they take a walk around the outside of the gates the next morning, just to make sure that nothing was lurking around. He’d barely given the house a second glance, but Beth had seen something. She’d grabbed his arm and gestured with her head that she was going to the house, and he’d expected to see her take down a walker or pick up a can of food. That wasn’t what had caught her eye, though. It was what was in the backyard that had her attention. By the time he’d caught up to her, she was already climbing the wooden ladder that led up to the tree house. It had been built well and on a sturdy old tree. It remained standing where most of the houses had already been burned or collapsed. 

Aside from being covered in dirt, dust, and cobwebs, the inside was empty. Beth was standing in the middle, turning around in a slow circle as she took it all in. A smile stretching across her face—a smile he hadn’t seen since that night on the porch of the moonshine shack. If he’d known that he could bring that smile back just by finding her a tree house, he would’ve been out here looking for one since the moment they got back.

At least once a week, they found themselves out here. Yes, they had a house in a gated community. And yes, they were grateful for it. But they also had their tree house in the open, where they could both breathe a little easier when the walls started to feel like they were closing in around them. They were even more grateful for a safe place to escape.

He could see the faint glow from one of the solar lanterns coming from the tree house now. He wasn’t planning to sleep up here tonight, but they’d stocked it well and if they ever got stuck up there, it wouldn’t be that bad. The windows had been covered and they’d brought some blankets and dried food and a few bottles of water. Beth jokingly called it their “vacation home,” and it was starting to feel that way to Daryl.

He climbed up the ladder and pulled himself into the sturdy little structure to find Beth sitting with her back against the wall. She’d left the solar lantern close to the opening so he could see his way in the dark. She had some of the beeswax candles that Jesus had started making on the floor in front of her, creating her own little bonfire. The candlelight gave the small space a warm glow and softened everything. Even the scars on her face were almost invisible when she looked up at him and gave him one of the smiles that made his heart pound a little harder every time she bestowed one upon him.

They exchanged nods of greeting. Then he sat down next to her on the blanket she’d spread out over the floor, and without even thinking about it, he put his arm around her shoulders. He pulled her closer to him. 

“Got yer note,” he said. “Maybe next time… wait fer me?” He knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself out here, but there was still that moment of worry for him when he read the note telling him to meet her at the vacation house. 

“Sorry,” she muttered. “I was thinkin’ about how much I would’ve liked to have Hershel and Maggie here with us. To see what little costume she’d make for him. That got me thinkin’ about all the Halloweens we had on the farm when I was growin’ up… and it made me think of a tradition we had every Halloween night. Somethin’ my Daddy started, I think.” She’d laid her head on his shoulder and he was enjoying the quiet and the closeness they were able to achieve in their little sanctuary. 

“Yeah? Did it involve glitter an’ rainbows an’ all that other shit?” 

Beth lifted her face and her eyes darkened a bit, but then she rolled her eyes at him and put her head back on his shoulder. "No, it didn’t involve glitter an’ all that shit. I'm not sure why this is the first time in all these years I’ve thought about it, but every Halloween we would tell stories about the ghosts we hoped were still watching over us. Daddy would light a fire and we’d roast marshmallows and we’d take turns talkin’. My mom and dad would always have different people to add, but I never had anyone till this all happened. And now… well, it just seems a little too real.”

He scoffed. "Ya really think all the people we lost are watchin’ over us as ghosts?" He asked.

"Well, the dead people walkin’ around feeding off the living has changed my perception of the supernatural."

He grunted an agreement and rubbed his free hand across the whiskers on his chin. He wasn’t sure he wanted  _ any _ of the people he’d lost since the world went to shit watching over him. 

“It’s a dumb idea, but I just thought maybe we could use tonight to remember them. I knew you’d hate it. I’m sorry I dragged you out here fer nothi—”

“Rick.” He cut her apology off by mentioning the most recent loss. “I’d like ta think Rick is still keepin’ an eye on all of us. That he knows ‘bout tha baby he’s about ta have. He’s seein’ Judith in her little cat costume. He knows that we’re still fightin’ to keep what he’d imagined goin’.”

The night was so still that the flames of the candles were as undisturbed as he’d ever seen. He hated to remember all the people that they’d lost, but there was something about the way she’d made this happen that he felt like he needed to go along with it. 

Beth hummed. “I’m still not ready to believe that he’s gone. I know he is. I was there at the bridge with everybody else, I saw it, too. But I always thought he was indestructible. He was larger than life. But then again, I guess I always thought that about my daddy, too.” Her voice was soft, like she was trying to keep the night still and peaceful. “My dad… he saved so many lives after the turn. He wasn’t supposed to die the way he did. He was supposed ta be here with us. You know that rocking chair on the back porch? I always imagine that’d be  _ his _ chair. If he’d made it here.”

Daryl could feel a spot on his neck getting wet, the tears she barely cried anymore collecting there. 

“So yer dad was gonna be livin’ with us? That doesn’t seem like it’d go over well.” He could just imagine what the older man’s face might look like once he found out that his baby girl was living with an old redneck like Daryl. It’d been hard enough when Maggie found out. Now everytime he was in bed with Beth, he was going to have that moment of thinking Hershel was there watching what he was about to do to her.

Good thing condoms were in short supply right now.

“No,” Beth said. “He’d be at Hilltop with Maggie and Hershel. He’d be at our house once a week for dinner though, and that would be his chair.” She paused and cleared her throat, then she shook her head, sitting up a little so she could hug her knees.

The spot she’d been occupying on Daryl’s shoulder suddenly went cold, but not in a strange way. It was almost like someone laid a hand on his shoulder after they’d come in from a long day outside in the snow. 

“Glenn,” she mumbled. “Fuck, I wish he could be here to see his son. To see what Maggie’s done with Hilltop. He’d be so damn proud.”

She didn’t look at him. He knew she wouldn’t, because she knew that he still blamed himself. The nightmares that woke him were sometimes of the night Glenn died and how Daryl should’ve stayed where he was, how it was his fault. Beth and Maggie and everyone else had told him over and over that Negan was going to kill someone else that night no matter what happened. He was just that kind of sadistic bastard. But it didn’t matter how many times they told him. Daryl would always carry that guilt inside him.

Beth had started to speak again, but a chill that shook her shoulders stopped her. He grabbed one of the extra blankets and pulled her back to him, draping it across them both. The breath caught in his throat as a name suddenly popped into his head. A deep breath and a hard swallow gave him the moment he needed. 

“My mom,” he said. “I got no clue how she woulda faired in this world, but I wish I’d had a chance to find out.” He felt her hand slide into his palm and her fingers tangling with his. A breeze came through the tree house and ruffled his hair, almost strong enough to push the overgrown bangs out of his face for a moment. 

“I bet she’d be proud of you. The man you’ve become and the leader you are for all the communities.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her looking up at him, a gentle smile on her face. She knew he hated when she called him a leader. Especially now that Rick was gone. He would never know how to fill that man’s boots.

“ _ Hmpf _ . Dunno, never really got the chance ta know her. She might’a hated it here.” Her hand tightened around his and then relaxed, but didn’t let go. 

There was a beat. Then she began to explain, “I had this list in my head of the people I was lookin’ forward to seeing as soon as I found the group again. The top spot rotated between Maggie, Judith, and you. The next on that list was always Carl. I still can’t believe he wasn’t here when I found y’all. He was supposed to be the kid that survived all of this. The one that changed the world.” Beth’s voice caught again. He remembered her face when they’d told her that Carl had been bitten and was gone. Her face was the same feeling he’d had when he saw that bite. For months, he’d looked around and always expected to see Carl standing somewhere off to the side. He still did that, but now he looked and expected to see both of the Grimes men. 

“He always doted on Judith,” she went on. “Can you imagine how he’d be with the new baby? He once told me that he always asked Santa for a sibling when he was growin’ up. It took the world ending for him to get his wish. Now he has two younger siblings that he’ll never get to see grow up.” She gripped Daryl’s hand when she finished, needing his reassurance this time. 

They were both quiet, letting the memories of the people they’d mentioned run through their heads. Her hand trembled in his and he almost gave her more of the blanket. But one look at her face and he knew she was trying to find the proper words for the person she talked about next. Probably her mom or her brother. The two people in the Greene family he would only remember as Walkers in the barn. 

“I wish Dr. Edwards and Amanda—Officer Shepherd—had made it to Hilltop with me. They got so close, and I never would’ve made it back to you an’ Maggie without them.” Her entire body was shaking now and he wanted to pull her into his arms and bury her head against his chest to keep the painful memories away… but he also wanted to know exactly how she’d made it back to him. 

“A day or so after I woke up at Grady, Edwards and I were talkin’ about how they handled the people they lost. They just dumped ‘em down the elevator shaft. I told him that we buried the ones we loved, we did it to remember them. After… after everything that happened with Dawn, Edwards watched where you went. He figured you’d bury me somewhere, but then they said a herd came through and you had to run. He watched you put my body in the trunk of that car.” He must have stiffened or reacted in some way because Beth’s grip on his hand tightened again.

That memory—the one he tried to bury so deep that it wouldn’t even come up in his dreams, even though it often did just that. Every fucking night. Before she came back, it haunted him that he couldn’t save her. Now that she was back… it was that he left her there. Left her there while she was still alive. Left her to die.

“If you hadn’t left me there. I wouldn’t be alive now,” she reminded him, as if she were reading his mind. “I  _ needed _ to be in that hospital, with the medical equipment and medicine. I needed to make Edwards redeem the shit he did ta me. Leaving me saved my life, Daryl.  _ You _ saved my life. Without even knowing it.” She leaned up and pressed a gentle kiss to his temple. She had a way of knowing that he needed something from her, just a small gesture that let him know that she was still right there next to him. Alive and warm and  _ next to him _ . 

“I hated myself fer leavin’ ya there,” he mumbled. “You deserved more than a fuckin’ trunk.”

They’d talked about this before, and she’d stopped him from burying himself under the guilt so many times. But he still felt that raging pit inside of him every time he let himself think too hard on it. 

She sighed and somehow found a way to nuzzle herself closer to his side. “Stop. I’ve told you… I wouldn’t have survived on the road. Ya want me ta finish telling you about this or not?”

“ _ Hmpf _ .” He nodded his head. He did need to hear the rest. She always stopped when she told him that he’d saved her by putting her in the car.

“Shepherd, Edwards, and a few of the patients that I’d gotten to know waited until the herd passed before they went down to get me. But when they got there, Edwards noticed that I wasn’t displaying the signs that I should if I’d been dead. He found a pulse, and it was barely there, but it was there. They got me back in the hospital and somehow they brought me back. I don’t remember anything. The last thing I remember was thinkin’ that Dawn had ta be stopped, and then a few hazy moments of shapes an’ voices. It wasn’t until three weeks later that my memory kicked back in. I was alive, but I could barely speak or walk. It took months of therapy to get me back to what you could call normal. Amanda found books on traumatic brain injuries and studied them. She helped me. I think she was trying to make amends, just like Edwards was. He was a coward. A sad, pathetic, weak little man. He used me ta kill an innocent person so he wouldn’t be kicked outta Grady, all because he was too terrified of tryin’ to survive on his own. But in the end… he saved me. He tried to make it right.”

Daryl already knew the rest of the story: a fire broke out and they were forced out of the hospital. Beth convinced everyone to go north, thinking that her group would’ve gone that way. So they did. They found other communities along the way. In some twist of fate, the group ran into Georgie and the twins. Beth had talked about trying to find her sister Maggie, and after answering a few questions, they gave her a map that led straight to Hilltop. 

“The herd that caught us right before we got ta Hilltop… we coulda survived it. But Edwards—I think he was ready ta give up. He just sacrificed himself as a distraction. Amanda tried to get him, but they got her, too.” She’d never told Daryl what happened to the group she’d been with, just that they hadn’t made it. They were more people he’d barely known that he needed to thank for bringing Beth back to him. 

“Ya know, I miss everyone we’ve lost. Even the people I never met. The stories I’ve heard about Abraham and Denise. I know I would’ve liked ‘em, but don’t make fun of me when I tell you who I wish was still here more than anybody else. I wish… I wish Merle was still here.”

He couldn’t hold in the incredulous laughter that burst out of him. Of all the people, Beth, sweet little Beth Greene, wished his obnoxious older brother was still here?

“I told ya not to laugh! Merle was an asshole, yeah. He was disgusting, rude, and not the nicest person ta be around—but he was yer brother. I still have my sister. There’s still a piece of my family here from before… And I just wish you still had that.”

Outside, a large branch cracked and broke, causing both of them to jump. 

Daryl grunted. "I do miss that cranky sonuva bitch. I can't see him settlin' into the ‘burbs like we did, though."

The vision of Merle trying to fit in to Alexandria was the balm they needed to jolt them out of the weird trip down memory lane that they’d just taken. It was getting late and even though he’d told Gabriel to keep an eye out, Daryl was happy, warm, and holding the love of his life in his arms. He would forgo the comfy bed and pillows back at the house to give her the peace she could only find out here. 

Their conversation came to an easy lull and they both fell silent. A little while later, they arranged the blankets, blew out the candles, and settled in for the night.

As Daryl was falling asleep, part of him wondered if maybe the people they’d lost really  _ were _ still around.

The chill that felt like a hand on his shoulder—it could be Hershel giving them his blessing. That breeze when he’d talked about his mom, maybe it was her pushing his hair out of his eyes like she always did when he was younger. And that damn branch did sound an awful lot like Merle’s obnoxious laugh whenever he found something really funny.

Even in this fucked-up crazy world, was there a chance that the people they missed the most were trying to reach out and let them know that they were still close?

And if they all really were making themselves known… where was Rick? 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks as always to my beta reader SquishyCool. She makes it possible for these fics to see the light of day!


End file.
